Gurugram cops track down truck with almonds worth ₹2 crore; arrest 4
After a week-long chase, a team of Gurugram Police in Haryana has managed to track down a truck that was carrying imported almonds worth ₹2 crore and arrested four persons including the driver.
According to a Times of India report, the truck headed out of a port near Mumbai to Delhi on June 12 but did not reach the destination. It was carrying 899 bags of imported almonds worth ₹2 crore. It was fitted with a GPS device so that its operators, a Gurgaon-based transport company, could track the vehicle.
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Until June 14, the truck was traced to Bilaspur in Haryana. It was spotted leaving for Delhi around 9.30 that night. But after that, it stopped blipping on the radar and frantic calls were made to the Bilaspur police to track it down, the report added.
When the truck reached Gurgaon’s Panchgaon, its driver Abid, 30, removed the GPS device after striking a deal to sell the almonds himself.
“Abid and one of his friends had planned the crime all along with the help of two others,” Preet Pal Sangwan, ACP (crime), told reporters on Friday (June 24).
2 करोङ रुपयों की कीमत के 899 बोरी #बादाम से भरे कन्टेनर सहित गबन करने वाला आरोपी 03 साथियों सहित कुल 04 गिरफ्तार।#गबन की गई कन्टेनर, 879 बोरी बादाम तथा वारदात में प्रयोग की गई 01 कैन्टर #आरोपियों के कब्जा से की गई बरामद।@police_haryana @DGPHaryana @cmohry pic.twitter.com/dW2OPxO3nI
— Gurugram Police (@gurgaonpolice) June 24, 2022
To track down the truck, the Gurgaon crime branch used its network of informers across the state. Also, the Delhi-based trader who had imported the almonds and was getting them ferried from Mumbai spread the word among other businessmen not to purchase the stolen consignment, the police said.
Extensive mobile surveillance and local intelligence eventually helped to locate the driver’s location in Alwar by June 21. The container truck was found parked in a warehouse — owned by another trader — on the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road on Thursday, the report said.
The police said the three associates of Abid — warehouse owner Devender Sharma, Sabir (20) and Kasim Khan (40) — were arrested after the truck driver gave away details of their plot.
“Kasim and Sabir were arrested from Bharatpur in Rajasthan on Thursday. Kasim was the mastermind and knew Abid. Both of them had planned the crime. Sharma was held from Gurgaon. Abid had struck a deal with Devender to sell a part of the consignment and as per the deal, he loaded 450 sacks of almonds into a canter truck on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road. He handed over the remaining sacks from the truck to another partner and asked him to sell them,” ACP Sangwan said.
Kasim has a history of crime and had allegedly stolen a truck carrying betel nuts in 2015. The four have been booked under Section 407 (criminal breach of trust by carrier) of the IPC, he added.
According to the police, the accused had sold 20 bags and the remaining 879 were recovered from them.
